The point I was making that - in general - international teams are struggling to post scores away from home that are anything like competitive.
It would be interesting to look at the stats for test matches just this decade starting 2010. I expect there to be more overall wins in test matches compared to earlier eras (lower percentage of draws especially without rain interruptions I mean) and home teams absolutely dominating. It could be because of players having slightly inferior technique, lack of proper tour matches (either low number of matches scheduled or home sides giving flat pitches nowhere near ideal conditions for preparation), home sides preparing pitches that suit them more, bowlers being more suited to certain type of pitches instead of all-round performers. All this in comparison with previous eras, of course.
Apart from Eng-SA and SA-Aus, almost all series between top sides have become very one-sided. Eng hadn't won at home vs SA since 1998 (until they eventually did in 2016). SA haven't won at home vs Eng since 2003. Aus haven't won at home vs SA since a decade and SA have never won vs Aus at home since readmission. Their conditions are also not completely alien to each other (compared to subcontinent, carribbean, swinging, seaming) India are traditionally stronger at home (Eng won only once in last 30 yrs, Steve Waugh never won while their 2004 win was very narrow - green pitch in Nagpur and 5th day washout in Chennai with Ind in strong position chasing). Even South Africa during their 9-yr unbeaten away run have never won a series in India in that time. With these new trends, India have become almost unbeatable at home - lost only one test
match in last 5 years
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I consider India to be a very good team when at full strength yet they've just capitulated to 135 all out.
As I said in some earlier post, it was a good test match for first two days with SA being in a naturally stronger position at a home match. But the rain on 3rd day meant the conditions were unplayable today. Even SA could score only 130. It is very difficult for batsmen to adjust to seaming conditions - there is barely any time to adjust your stance when someone's bowling at you at 140+. You don't have enough time to calculate whether that ball would be seam into you or away from you and before you know it you're either plumb or have nicked off to the cordon.
Also, as many have said already as soon as the team news came out - Rahul and Rahane had to be in the side in place of Dhawan and Rohit. I'm the first to acknowledge that Rohit has improved quite a lot in test matches in last 15 months (including the NZ series at home) but Rahane will always have a better game to suit foreign conditions. If it's a straight competition between Rahane and Rohit - Rahane will always win for matches outside subcontinent. But the problem was Rahane was woefully out of form for over a year but he should have been persisted with considering his troubles are only against spinners (weird for a Mumbai batsman). Dhawan averaged 70+ for last year but it's one thing playing SL in subcontinent and completely different playing SA in seaming Newlands. Rahul was Man of the Series (I think) vs Aus series last year which was very competitive and he'd have suited this match much better than Dhawan. I haven't watched Dhawan's wicket today but he played a completely daft shot trying to take on Steyn with half an hr left to play on day 1 after already losing another opener to a daft shot. But now that I've said it, I expect Rahul to come into the side for 2nd match and play a daft shot away from body nicking off for 2 in the first over of next match. C'est la vie.
There was quite an in depth conversation on BT Sport in the UK about this issue the other day and a lot of the top pundits on the game all agree something needs to be done.
We could maybe arrange more tour matches and get the visiting sides adjusted to foreign conditions? Make sure that home sides provide decent practice pitches instead of flat ones? Or the foreign players can join county sides for half a season before touring England? But with large number of global T20 tournaments, there's barely any time left in calendar for players to do this without substantially affecting their income. I hear IPL will be included in ICC cricket calendar (which means no international tournaments during these 45 days) from this or next year which is daft.
The trouble is for example how do you force India to produce a wicket that isn't favourable to spinners? By giving the away side automatic first use of the pitch it evens things up just that little bit.
After following the sport for so long I realized that preparing a competitive pitch is extremely difficult and has very narrow margin or error. Pitch preparation depends on the local soil as well as the amount of water and the weather conditions overhead. England can have spin pitches (I think) if they played between late Aug and Oct, North Indian places like Mohali and Dharmasala can have conditions suitable for fast bowlers, etc. India provided 3 competitive pitches and two roads (Rajkot and Chennai) for Eng's visit last year. Eng won the toss 4 times, batted first all 4 times and ended up losing 3 of those matches with two innings defeats after scoring 400+. Aus lost 7 (or 6?) straight matches after winning toss and batting first in India and Pune was the first time they broke the sequence. Dharmasala had the most Australian like conditions with pace and bounce but Australians got bounced out by Umesh Yadav. Kolkata had seam friendly conditions when Ind played NZ but Bhuvi ripped through NZ order while Southee and Boult couldn't do the same to India. Even the Newlands pitch provided enough assistance for Indian bowlers but their lack of consistency compared to SA meant they fell short of their top level in 1st innings. In hindsight, Umesh or Ishant (ideal prototype to Morkel) would have been better than Bumrah but it takes a lot of factors for foreign teams to use the advantage or conditions they're provided compared to home sides.
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sound solution